The Big Event - Desert Trip & Beyond

Well, it took another 9 days to post.  Mainly been busy as hell, in a good way.  Far busier for a retired guy than I expected.  Here's what's up so far:

• Left Huntington Beach for Indio on the 6th.  Stayed in front of Larry's house (my daughter's neighbor's dad) and delivered the package from Oregon.  Toured Indio and took it easy.
• Relocated to the Indio RV Park.  Great location 3 miles or so from the Polo Ground concert area; a beautiful place to stay.
• Biked to and from the 3 day concert.  Had fun. Had fun. Had fun.
• Left Indio for Phoenix AZ, toured Arcosanti and Taliesin West, and had dinner with a cousin. Short stay but packed! 4 hours of driving just to those 3 places.
• Left for El Paso TX where I am right now, a 7 hour drive.
• I'll stay here tonight and have an 8 hour drive tomorrow to Houston.  My longest planned trip. Texas be one BA state!

We should all be proud of the southwest USA for energy conservation.  These wind energy farms where everywhere along the route coming and going to Indio.

Larry's place.

TV reception is a crapshoot.  Different everywhere I go, but tons of hispanic and asian stations.  Likely to speak both fluently when I return.

Indian Waters RV Resort

 

Don't know if this is because I'm in the Southwest dining experience zone or in an old folks community.

Maybe the age thing. My friend said his cousin was going to be at the concert.  So we met up. I took this pic and texted it to him so he'd spot me.

Only fell once. 

This is where it all happened!

The grounds were vast.  With an orchard to stroll under, vendors everywhere, a craft beer barn, a 'culinary experience' zone, and on-site camping. All in addition to where everybody watched the show. The people I met were friendly, excited and true rock n roll fans.  Only saw one walker and just a few motorized wheelchairs, so perhaps us old folk are doing alright after all!

Bob Dylan Photos would go here but for some reason I don't have any that came out.  He received mixed reviews.  I really enjoyed his set and knew most of the songs.  Other folks wanted more hits, crowd interaction, etc. What can you say - he's Bob Dylan

The Stones where super high energy.  They were great!!

I'd never seen Neil Young before.  He was awesome.  Played great songs, including a 20 minute 'Down By The River' that was super.  The video below may or may not play here, but it's a piece of that.  His focus on 'Water is Life' environmental concerns carried through from his stage set to his music.

Paul McCartney's show was polished and was, with the tribute songs to both of his wives and John Lennon, heartwarming.  Great sense of humor and crowd interaction.  His sets had something of a Yellow Submarine electronica feel to them.

Although it is very hard to say one group outperformed the other, my personal favorite for best show of the 3 nights is the Who.  Their show was supercharged.  Daltry's voice and Townsend's guitar were right in the zone!

Most controversially themed Roger Waters' show was amazing!  Started off slow and etherial.  Dark side of the Moonish.  Got heated up in the middle and went full blast into a major rant on our current republican presidentail candidate. Ended with a flying pig the size of a house, and 'Trump Is A Pig' 20 foot high letters across the stage set.

It was a concert I will always remember! Thanks to SFCS for completing my dream to get there!!

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Then: On to Arizona!! I can honestly say that the while in A school at Ball State the urbanism and ecological concepts of Paolo Soleri impacted me more than any other practicing architect at the time.  His Arcosanti experiment in the desert a 100 miles north of Phoenix is remarkable!  Started in the '70s, it has yet to  have, and may never have a full scale completion. But he was well ahead of the curve.  He died in 2008 I believe but his experiment continues every day, with 70 to 80 art, architectural, and environmentally focused students crafting bells and wind chimes from bronze and clay. I feel lucky to be able to see it first hand!

Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West school of architecture is a beautifully crafted complex that perfectly mirrors the concepts he created.  These few pictures need little explanation.

A lego model of the complex.

The acoustical perfection he achieves in this theater is outstanding.

Leaving Phoenix for El Paso provided powerfully vivid vistas of the high desert.

In El Paso, I toured Fort Bliss, center for the Army's air defense.  I did Advanced Individual Training here, 47 years ago, just after basic training at Fort Knox. I was trained as a Nike Hercules Missile Crewman MOS 22Bravo. Then I was off to Germany for 2 years. The fort has changed considerably since then, as you might imagine!

I leave El Paso for San Antonio tomorrow.  A long 8 hour drive. I want to get this out today, so I have been brief in the written descriptions.  So once again, thank you all for tuning in!

DDP